Condor drops Berlin and Stuttgart to Dubai flights from winter schedule

Condor is cutting its daily Berlin-Dubai and Stuttgart-Dubai flights from the winter timetable, the German carrier announced on Tuesday. The Frankfurt-based airline said the decision reflected continued difficult economic conditions for aviation worldwide.

The move follows Germany's grant of additional traffic rights to the United Arab Emirates on 10 September, allowing a national carrier from the UAE to serve a fifth German destination. No airline has confirmed such a route yet. But a meeting between Berlin's governing mayor, Kai Wegner, and President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan made clear that Emirates flights to Berlin are planned.

Condor wants what it calls fair and comparable conditions. It argues that high state-imposed location costs in Germany weigh particularly heavily on domestic airlines, and that any expansion of traffic rights should account for reciprocity, competitive neutrality and the effects on German carriers and on value creation in the country. The airline is urging the federal government to provide concrete relief on location costs.

The Verdi union, the German airlines association and the Lufthansa Group criticised the additional traffic rights directly. Eurowings and Condor initially commented only in general terms before Condor changed its plans.